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Published: March 1st 2012
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It seems that the only time I have to blog about my trips is during travel for other trips. This posting will be all about my day trip to Gent in Belgium. Every year the town of Gent puts on a light festival for one weekend in January. Shortly after moving to Belgium, I was introduced to a website called “Meetup.com” This site was created by some New Yorkers in order to bring people with similar interests and hobbies together. The nice part is everyone is usually single so there aren’t many couples doing couple things in them. So, I found a Meetup group in Brussels that is for those who love to go out to eat. SCORE! I like food, I like to eat food, I like to have others around me when enjoying food. Perfect fit. This group had a meeting planned for the Gent light festival so I gladly RSVPd that I would be attending.
The group was meeting at the Brussels Central train station and riding together for the 45 min train ride. Since I live in Mons, I decided to take the train from Mons but in order to do that I had to change
trains in Brussels Midi (the grand central of Brussels). I convinced a fellow colleague to join me and off we went. We determined that the group was on our train and meet up with them at the main train station in Gent to take a local trolley to the downtown Gent area. We arrived in the mid afternoon and had several hours to tour the town prior to the light show starting.
There were about 25 of us in the group, way too large for everyone to agree on a course of action. So, we split up into two groups, those who wanted to eat and those who wanted to visit cultural sites. I stayed in the later group as I can eat later and didn’t want to waste the daylight inside a restaurant. So, we went to the main Church in the town square, St Bavos, which is the home of the famous painting “The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb” by the Van Eyck Brothers. This painting was stolen during the Napoleonic wars and then by the Nazis during WWII. It was returned to the city approximately 50 years ago and is available for viewing at the church.
But, I didn’t see it as we arrived too late. There is a replica on the alter where it used to stand that I was able to see. The church itself was a wonderful cathedral with gothic architecture and amazing windows, shires and alters. The pulpit was so ornate it looked like Jesus himself was the one preaching from it every Sunday.
My colleague and I got separated from the group as I stopped to light a candle for my grandmother who was ill and in the hospital at the time. We decided to venture through some smaller streets where shopping was aplenty and ended up in a store owned by a gentleman who donates his profits to Nepal school children. I bought a beautiful onyx ring there which is my new favorite piece of jewelry. We then went to an organic café where I had an amazing sandwich with Gouda smoked cheese and hot chocolate.
We found the group again and walked to the large square marked number 1 on our light festival map and waited. As the crowd grew to several thousand people, our group got split again. We navigated the crowded streets as we walked
all around the town watching different buildings being lit up to stories, music and choreographed to complement each other. We weaved in and out of market squares, alleys, bridges all while being awestruck at the lights and sounds of the city.
The group I ended up with was about 10 of us, all different nationalities to include German, Belgium, Dutch, American, Bosnian and Chinese. As we were trying to decide what to do next, some wanted to go back to Brussels others wanted to remain in Gent, I suggested talking out our differences at an Irish Pub over a pint. That was agreeable to all, so in we went and ordered so frites and beers. I was introduced to a Qwack, which is a darker lager which supposedly makes a qwacking noise when it is drunk out of a special glass. It didn’t work ,but I still drank the beer.
The only bad part of my evening happened at the pub. I received a text message from my brother to call home, so I had to excuse myself from the Pub and went out to find a quiet corner in a very busy and festive town.
Once I was in a place I could talk, I called home and was given the news that we had lost my grandmother a few hours earlier. In fact, it was at about the same time as I was lighting the candle in St Bavo. I was able to hold it together to go back inside, finish my beer and toast my grandmother with my new group of friends who all were very supportive.
We soon after boarded the train and all agreed to try and meet up again soon. It was a great day and I look forward to going back to Gent as they have a Castle and other wonderful sights to explore.
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